NEWCASTLE UNITED remain hopeful of completing deals for both Diego Carlos and Jesse Lingard, despite a frustrating 24 hours in which moves for both players have stalled.

The Magpies remain in talks with Sevilla over a proposed deal for Carlos worth around £30m, even though the Brazilian centre-half played the full 90 minutes of his current employers’ 1-1 draw with Valencia on Wednesday night.

In the immediate aftermath of that game, Carlos appeared to rule out leaving Sevilla this month, stating he still had “a lot of time left here”. Sevilla’s assistant manager, Pablo Sanz, who was standing in for first-team coach, Julen Lopetegui, who has Covid, added: “I think Diego Carlos will be (here) until the end of the season.”

However, with Carlos having taken to social media yesterday to laugh off his comments, Newcastle’s recruitment team, led by director Amanda Staveley, continue to pursue the 28-year-old’s signature.

It is understood that Carlos remains keen on a switch to England, and while reports emerged yesterday evening suggesting Newcastle face competition from a London-based club, their interest remains at a much more advanced stage than anything else on the table. Nevertheless, Sevilla continue to strike a hard bargain and an agreement is yet to be reached.

The same is true with Manchester United and Lingard, with Newcastle having made a second loan offer for the England international yesterday afternoon.

Ideally, Manchester United would like to sell Lingard this month because the midfielder has entered the final six months of his contract. However, Lingard is only willing to consider a loan move this month because he wants to keep his long-term options open.

Newcastle are trying to engineer a solution that will satisfy everyone, and that could mean offering a loan fee that is high enough to persuade Manchester United to agree to a temporary deal. Whatever happens though, Lingard is extremely unlikely to be signed in time to feature in tomorrow’s game with Leeds United.